Taipei prosecutors yesterday questioned three employees of smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) and searched their offices at HTC on suspicion of embezzlement and theft of commercial secrets.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said the investigation was launched after HTC filed a lawsuit against the three executives working in the company’s research department.
SEARCH
Prosecutors and agents from the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau searched their offices in HTC’s building in Sindian District (新店) in the afternoon after the stock market closed.
HTC shares rose 5.74 percent to NT$156.50 yesterday.
Investigators seized the three employees’ smartphones. Agents also searched their residences.
Investigators also summoned the three for questioning. Police questioning was ongoing at press time.
Prosecutors said HTC sued the three on suspicion of using fake receipts to seek reimbursements of close to NT$10 million (US$333,000) from the company.
FRONT COMPANY
The trio have allegedly set up a front company to do design work for a new phone model, prosecutors said.
HTC told prosecutors that the three were planning to open three phone-design companies in Taiwan and China, with their offices currently being decorated.
The company accused the trio of stealing commercial secrets related to a new model’s screen interface.
The new smartphone is set to be unveiled to the public in six months, according to the company.
HTC has also accused the three of breaking the company’s trust, fraud and leaking commercial secrets, according to prosecutors.
The company said in a statement that it could not comment on the raid as the case is still under investigation.
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it plans to double investment in data center-related technologies, including advanced packaging and high-speed interconnect technologies, to broaden the new business’ customer and service portfolios. The chip designer is redirecting its resources to data centers, mainly designing application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for cloud service providers. The data center business is forecast to lead growth in the next three years and become the company’s second-biggest revenue source, replacing chips used in smart devices, MediaTek president Joe Chen (陳冠州) told a media event in Taipei. “Three or four years
Until US President Donald Trump’s return a year ago, when the EU talked about cutting economic dependency on foreign powers — it was understood to mean China, but now Brussels has US tech in its sights. As Trump ramps up his threats — from strong-arming Europe on trade to pushing to seize Greenland — concern has grown that the unpredictable leader could, should he so wish, plunge the bloc into digital darkness. Since Trump’s Greenland climbdown, top officials have stepped up warnings that the EU is dangerously exposed to geopolitical shocks and must work toward strategic independence — in defense, energy and
Motorists ride past a mural along a street in Varanasi, India, yesterday.
CHALLENGES: The platform brings together accounting and legal experts in the two nations to deliver coordinated advisory services on investment and risk management PwC Taiwan has launched a Taiwan-US service platform to help Taiwanese companies expand into the US, underscoring a shift in corporate investment priorities, as nearly 40 percent of local firms now rank the US as their top overseas destination. The platform brings together accounting and legal professionals in Taiwan and the US to deliver coordinated advisory services, as supply chain realignment, geopolitical risk and shifts in industrial policy reshape global manufacturing and market access strategies, PwC Taiwan chairman and CEO Patrick Hsu (徐聖忠) told a media briefing in Taipei yesterday. “North America has moved from being an optional growth market to a
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